Survey: Residents want more downtown parking

Published: Thursday, October 10, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 at 6:29 p.m.

Downtown Economic Development Director Lew Holloway told Hendersonville City Council last week that 65 percent of those who responded to a recent city survey saw the supply of downtown parking as a problem.

Although the results of the parking survey are still being finalized, preliminary figures show a majority of respondents also viewed access to public parking and employee parking as top issues.

Holloway said 439 people completed the 15-question survey, which was available online and at City Hall from early September through Oct. 1.

Of those 439 people, he told the council that 305 made it all the way through the questionnaire, scoring it a 70 percent completion rate.

“The first question we asked was, ‘What was your connection to downtown Hendersonville?’ We asked folks to check all that applied,” he said.

Results showed that 278 of those surveyed were downtown customers, 98 were downtown employees, 63 were business owners and 51 owned property. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they visit downtown regularly to eat, 31 percent to work, 20 percent to shop and 8 percent to be entertained.

A slight majority of the respondents were visiting downtown five to seven times a week and 60 percent of the ones surveyed said their visits required one to three hours of parking, according to the results. Twenty-three percent of the survey participants indicated they needed seven hours or more for parking.

Holloway said they compiled a list of issues addressed at the city’s recent parking workshop and asked respondents to pick the top three concerns “that have potential, if addressed, to generate the largest improvements for parking in downtown.” Of the 422 who answered that question, 65 percent cited downtown’s total supply of parking, 55 percent the accessibility of public parking and 42 percent employee parking and public spaces.

People were also quizzed about their top picks for solutions. Holloway said they needed a few more days to study those numbers since the results “can be interpreted in a variety of different ways.”

“We plan to further review the responses and develop a report, which will provide more in-depth review of those responses particularly those associated with solutions,” he said. More complete results are set to be presented to City Council next month.

The online software used for the survey prevented people from taking the survey multiple times, he said.

<p>Downtown Economic Development Director Lew Holloway told Hendersonville City Council last week that 65 percent of those who responded to a recent city survey saw the supply of downtown parking as a problem.</p><p>Although the results of the parking survey are still being finalized, preliminary figures show a majority of respondents also viewed access to public parking and employee parking as top issues.</p><p>Holloway said 439 people completed the 15-question survey, which was available online and at City Hall from early September through Oct. 1. </p><p>Of those 439 people, he told the council that 305 made it all the way through the questionnaire, scoring it a 70 percent completion rate. </p><p>“The first question we asked was, 'What was your connection to downtown Hendersonville?' We asked folks to check all that applied,” he said.</p><p>Results showed that 278 of those surveyed were downtown customers, 98 were downtown employees, 63 were business owners and 51 owned property. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they visit downtown regularly to eat, 31 percent to work, 20 percent to shop and 8 percent to be entertained.</p><p>A slight majority of the respondents were visiting downtown five to seven times a week and 60 percent of the ones surveyed said their visits required one to three hours of parking, according to the results. Twenty-three percent of the survey participants indicated they needed seven hours or more for parking.</p><p>Holloway said they compiled a list of issues addressed at the city's recent parking workshop and asked respondents to pick the top three concerns “that have potential, if addressed, to generate the largest improvements for parking in downtown.” Of the 422 who answered that question, 65 percent cited downtown's total supply of parking, 55 percent the accessibility of public parking and 42 percent employee parking and public spaces.</p><p>People were also quizzed about their top picks for solutions. Holloway said they needed a few more days to study those numbers since the results “can be interpreted in a variety of different ways.”</p><p>“We plan to further review the responses and develop a report, which will provide more in-depth review of those responses particularly those associated with solutions,” he said. More complete results are set to be presented to City Council next month.</p><p>The online software used for the survey prevented people from taking the survey multiple times, he said.</p><p>Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>